Leicester City's Jamie Vardy on his new TV show and why he was driving a diddy car around his kitchen

Jamie Vardy and wife Rebekah Vardy pictured at the premier of The Next Jamie Vardy, a documentary series about his V9 academy. (Photo by Chris Lobina/Sky via Getty Images)

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Jamie Vardy has admitted it will be strange to line-up against former Leicester City team-mate Danny Drinkwater when Chelsea visit the King Power Stadium this afternoon.

Drinkwater completed his £35million move to Stamford Bridge last week on transfer deadline day and, in a twist of fate, his potential Chelsea debut is against his former team-mates.

Vardy had been in the same City squad as Drinkwater that rose from the Championship to the Premier League and went on to win the title and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

The pair have also been England team-mates and Vardy admitted it will feel odd to see Drinkwater in the opposition camp, but he said there was no room for sentiment.

Vardy even joked that Drinkwater is now the enemy.

“I think I called him my enemy on Sky Sports earlier,” he said.

“Obviously, it will be strange seeing him in a different kit, but when the football is on he is not my mate, he is the opposition. We will have a chat after the game.”

Vardy was talking at the premiere of Sky TV’s documentary series The Next Jamie Vardy, which documents the efforts of his V9 academy in unearthing hidden talent in non-league football and giving them a chance to earn professional contracts.

Vardy, who City signed for £1m from Fleetwood Town in 2012, allowed the cameras into his home to film the documentary, which also looks at his own meteoric rise from non-league football.

There is even a clip of him playing with his daughter in his kitchen while riding a toddler’s bike.

“I am a bit gutted you all saw me driving around my kitchen on a diddy car,” said Vardy.

“Meeting these players and hearing their stories brought back a lot of memories as well.

Jamie Vardy celebrates his goal against Manchester United which set a new record of scoring in 11 consecutive Premier League games (Image: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)

“I was in that exact position myself years ago and knowing that the hard work does pay off. They have to work their socks off to get in the position where they have a chance.”

Vardy was released by Sheffield Wednesday as a teenager but rebuilt his career in the hustle and bustle of non-league football with Stocksbridge Park Steels.

He says that is what has made him the player he is today.

“It was probably the making of me,” he said.

“Once you get released your bubble is burst. You have already started to let your school grades slip because you think you are going to be a footballer so you have nothing to fall back on.

“Having to go straight into work to earn money while playing part-time helped me build myself as a player and started me on this journey.

“Everyone has their own route in but definitely in non-league it toughens you up.

Wilfred Ndidi and Jamie Vardy battle for possession with Eric Bailly during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Leicester City at Old Trafford. Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

“When I was at Stocksbridge if I wasn’t being kicked around that field then there was something wrong with the opposition.

“I was small and the easy target, but the main thing for me was to get back up and put the ball in the net. That shut them up.”

Above all, Vardy told the hopefuls on his V9 course that they had to maintain belief in themselves.

“You are going to get doubters whatever you do. To be honest with you when I first moved from Fleetwood to Leicester I doubted myself a bit in the first year as well.

“It wasn’t for a good chat I had with our manager at the time Nigel Pearson and our current manager Craig Shakespeare, telling me I was good enough to be there and that I could be even better, then I might have fallen out of the game as well.

“With them telling me that and me knuckling down to concentrate on football it all paid off.”

The Next Jamie Vardy documentary is on Sky 1 from Saturday, September 16, at 11.30am.